For His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great, the development for the well-being of the people must not aim only for profits or returns. In any activities, manpower and some input materials are placed before harvesting future profits, which is the prosperity of the people. His Majesty once stated that:

          “…in any venture, we are willing to put in money and efforts which may seem useless, but in the end, we may be able to reap the fruits either directly or indirectly. This is the very duty of the government. If we want the people to be prosperous, we have to invest in development projects, which will involve a budget of hundreds or many thousands of million. This means a loss of money, a deficit, a debit using the government’s money; that is, the government will have to ask for a budget, which in fact, comes from the people’s money. But if the project is a good one, the people will very soon get the benefit of it, the result of it. The people will enjoy a better standard of living. The people get benefit; the government does not seem to get anything out of it. Nevertherless, if we look closer, we will see that, if the people enjoy a better standard of living and have a good income, the government will be able to levy more taxes easily; there will be less tax evasion. People who have a better income will be able to pay more taxes…”

His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great’s Speech

Given on the Occasion of the Royal Birthday Anniversary

At the Dusidalai Hall

On 4 December 1991